I always related religious poetry to a passion that can be transformative. As a child I was raised in Greece under dictatorship and so I remember very vividly the role the church played in dealing with political issues. I also remember how in school we used to read out loud religious poetry and political poetry at the same time. Lord Byron, was common among our conversation as children because he was at the Greek revolution of 1821.
When things became crucial in the government and we were not allowed to discuss anything political at home, for what I thought was a strange reason then, everyone put more emphasis on religion. I know now that religion has kept Greece together as a nation for many years.
As a teenager I remember paying more attention to Greek songs that were popular during the political turmoil and I discovered that religious songs were politics in hiding. Why is this singer who is a revolutionary sing of love and religion instead of politics? Now I know.
In reading “The Graves of a Household” by Hemans and “The Convent Threshold” by Rossetti I can notice the poet’s position in relationship to the poem to be different. Hemans maintains a distance form her subject while Rossetti puts the poet and the “I’ right in the middle. Hemans also creates a universal spiritual existence between the living and the dead without any time restrictions, “where are those dreamers now?” begs the question mortality into play and is connected to lost love in the physical world but it appears that love can transcend beyond death. Rossetti “love music warbling in their throat,/young men and women come and go” reminds me of Eliot’s “Love Song” where” In the room the women come and go” this movement of time only bring s one in love to the realization that life is short and time might be wasted if one does not enjoy the moments of love. “You sinned with me a pleasant sin: repent with me/for I repent” is almost in an instant the repent takes over the poem. The imagery of angels coming down in dreams to remind, to threaten the thresholds of heaven and earth and love and promise a safe place where love can continue in another space.
*This are drawings of Greek women in Souli in 1803
Kranidis-Response Religious Poetry
I always related religious poetry to a passion that can be transformative. As a child I was raised in Greece under dictatorship and so I remember very vividly the role the church played in dealing with political issues. I also remember how in school we used to read out loud religious poetry and political poetry at the same time. Lord Byron, was common among our conversation as children because he was at the Greek revolution of 1821.
When things became crucial in the government and we were not allowed to discuss anything political at home, for what I thought was a strange reason then, everyone put more emphasis on religion. I know now that religion has kept Greece together as a nation for many years.
As a teenager I remember paying more attention to Greek songs that were popular during the political turmoil and I discovered that religious songs were politics in hiding. Why is this singer who is a revolutionary sing of love and religion instead of politics? Now I know.
In reading “The Graves of a Household” by Hemans and “The Convent Threshold” by Rossetti I can notice the poet’s position in relationship to the poem to be different. Hemans maintains a distance form her subject while Rossetti puts the poet and the “I’ right in the middle. Hemans also creates a universal spiritual existence between the living and the dead without any time restrictions, “where are those dreamers now?” begs the question mortality into play and is connected to lost love in the physical world but it appears that love can transcend beyond death. Rossetti “love music warbling in their throat,/young men and women come and go” reminds me of Eliot’s “Love Song” where” In the room the women come and go” this movement of time only bring s one in love to the realization that life is short and time might be wasted if one does not enjoy the moments of love. “You sinned with me a pleasant sin: repent with me/for I repent” is almost in an instant the repent takes over the poem. The imagery of angels coming down in dreams to remind, to threaten the thresholds of heaven and earth and love and promise a safe place where love can continue in another space.
*This are drawings of Greek women in Souli in 1803